Blogging post-Irene - 2

About 1/4 mile west of my home, there was a major washout of the Dover Road.
This photo, taken 2 weeks post-Irene on Sunday, Sept 11, show the barely passable reconnection that had been done. Everything from where I am standing to the top of the road rise (where a truck is just visible) had washed out. The stream can just be seen to the middle right, now back to about its original width.

The excavator was working on Sunday to rebuild the river bank and protect the road way, and to provide materials for the rebuilding. One of the astounding tidbits is how much construction equipment there was in the area which could be brought to bear on the recovery efforts.

This is the same roadway seen above, one week later on Sunday, Sept 18. The grader and roller are sitting idle for the first time in almost three weeks. By last Sunday, the equipment operators were getting a well-deserved, and much needed, day of rest.

A half mile to the east of my home, the river changed course. This photo was taken on Sunday, Sept 11. The piles of logs are not from a logging operation. They were trees ripped out by the flood waters and carried down until stopped by some obstacle or jam. The yellow house in the middle is the second story. The house was moved down river 500 feet (it use to stand beyond the middle house in the photo); the first story was beaten apart and washed away. This house may have been the obstacle which stopped the logs, and may be the reason that the new covered bridge another 1/3 mile down river survived.

One week later from almost the same spot - with the roadbed of the Dover Road rebuilt and passable, if the driver has the good sense to go slowly.

On Sunday, Sept 18, this brand new culvert for a small intermittent stream was being completed.

From atop the culvert, an automobile still waits removal, while residents clean their home. Over a foot of silt and mud surround the house, but it appears to have survived. It use to sit in a lovely grassy field.